Going Green! Narrows TR

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Cathy
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Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Cathy » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:17 pm

This was a weekend of many first personal descents and one that I will never forget. We started off Saturday on the Cheoah…hooked up with Druse and Kaylan Ellis and many good friends. It was Kaylan’s first trip down the upper and middle sections of the Cheoah, and she just nailed it. I think she only had to roll once and it was a super fast roll in the middle of some meaty stuff. She even got stuck in the top hole of Land of Holes, kept her cool, and surfed out of it like it was nothing. Wow, you have come so far this summer Kaylan! Congrats! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone’s first trip down the Cheoah go so well!

Having warmed up on the Cheoah, Sunday we were off to the Green Narrows! It would be both Druse and my first trips down, with Jose and Nate from Chattanooga, Anne from Birmingham, and Tim from Atlanta leading us down. And, by God, the Green is the real s**t. There’s about a ½ mile of class II warm up and then it’s on…starting with Bride of Frankenstein and then right after that, Frankenstein. A lot of folks told me that Frankstein is one of the hardest rapids on the narrows (if you take out the big 3, of course). I can see why. I took the right line, going through a narrow slot over a drop and then immediately turning right and boofing into an eddy in front of an undercut. I hit the bottom of the eddy, got washed against the undercut, and had to lean into it and push myself back in to the eddy. Whew. Up next were other rapids like Pin Cushion, Boof or Consequence, right line at Go Left of Die…lots of narrow slots, boofs into blind turns, crazy fun. You creekers from Arkansas would love this stuff. It’s STEEP.

We finally get out to look at Reverse Seven Foot and Zwick’s. So you’ve got to boof Reverse 7 into an eddy, peel out and then try to hit the tricky top hole at Zwick’s perfectly to set you up for a boof over the bottom hole (which is just nasty). Dru went first…I’ll let him tell you that story ;). I couldn’t see anything from the eddy at Reverse 7. So I peeled out, hit the hole in the middle with a 1:00 angle and left boof stroke, cleared it!! And then headed for a nice clean boof at the bottom. Whew again.

Some of us then portaged Chief. The move didn’t look too bad, but the consequences there are deadly. Then I found myself being the most scared I had been all day, when I was the only one with a rope set in between Chief and Gorilla. Good lord! But everyone ran it clean. Then I see Chris Gragtmans (Team Riot) paddle by on his way to run Gorilla…sweet!

Gorilla looks insane by the way. I just don’t see how people run that on a regular basis. So we do the seal launch at Gorilla, land flat into about 6 inches of water and then have to turn and run Nies’ Pieces which was a hell of a lot crazier than it looked from the top. Then two more big fast slides…Power Slide and Rapid Transit. Next up is Groove Tube, which is a 12 foot boof and then a must-make eddy on the right…unless you want to run Sunshine, of course. The eddy doesn’t look that hard to make from the top but I barely made it, and as I’m getting out of my boat, we seen Nate miss it and then head into the entrance of Sunshine. Oh my God! Time stood still for those few seconds until we heard the cheers at the bottom. He had made it over Sunshine clean! Wow, Nate rocks. But I still get nauseated thinking about it!

After that are quite a few technical class IV rapids and then my favorite…Hammer Factor! I will go back to the Green if only to run Hammer Factor. Like most rapids on the Green, you can’t see what’s coming. I follow Anne to boof a slot on the left and then I’m sliding fast down a shelf that’s dropping toward a huge slanted wall on the right. The wall of course makes a large diagonal hole at the bottom. Anne told me to square up to the hole and just ride it out, which is what I did. I got completely submerged (I think it gave me a hug ;) ) and then it launched me out. It doesn’t get any better than that.

So there you have it. Great times, great people. I’m so happy to have experienced it all with good people like Dru and Kaylan, and of course, leaders like Jose, Nate, Anne, and Tim, who just give you confidence and make everything lots of fun. Life is good.

Permagrinin’
-Cathy

P.S. FYI, it was running at 7 inches. And we did it in 2 hours.
Last edited by Cathy on Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Trismegistus
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Trismegistus » Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:00 am

Applause and admiration. A trip down the Narrows absent any carnage or injury -- very nice!!

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Fish
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Fish » Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:28 am

OK, so what did you do with that girl who was intimidated by the Ocoee two years ago? Haven't seen her in a long time! You are la bomba, Cathy. When I grow up, I want to run the stuff you're running! :)

Congratulations on running the Narrows! It's a legendary piece of whitewater indeed, and it appears you are a legend in the making too!

Your sweep boater,
Fish

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jermdog
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by jermdog » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:55 am

That's effing sweet.
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okieboater
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by okieboater » Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:05 am

Local girl moves east
Paddles all the hair runs
Congrats and take care

very proud of you

dave
Okieboater AKA Dave Reid

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We are sure that when retirement begins, childhood restarts

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Renee H
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Renee H » Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:40 am

Way to go Cathy, Druse and Kaylan :clap:

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dcheshier
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by dcheshier » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:16 am

You guys all rock! Hope you will all still paddle the EZ stuff with us when we come back out your way.
Diane Holwick

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RomanLA
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by RomanLA » Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:28 pm

That's awesome! :clap:

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Lazer
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Lazer » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Congrats! I remember my first trip down the Gnarrs circa 4th of July weekend in 1998. Having a good guide helped a lot on having a good trip down. Went back a few weeks later for a double. Amazing place and lots of fun drops and a couple of scary ones.

The other trip that sticks in my mind is the 2003 Green Race day. We launched 15 minutes ahead of the first boater and bombed our way down to Chief. Ray had barely escaped a trashing in the hole a Go Left, but redeemed himself with the helmet-cam carnage footage at 'scream machine' and the butt-boof on the right side of Nies Pieces! :hammer:

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druse
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by druse » Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:44 pm

I'm so proud of Kaylan, Cathy is right, she nailed her first run on the Cheoah with much confidence and poise.

I've had at least two previous opportunities to paddle the Green and turned it down :chicken: cause I was chicken. After the most recent opportunity about a year ago, hearing the reality of the trip report from Jason, and the fact that I'm not getting any younger, made my inspiration of being able to one day paddle this river seem far out of reach. This time my gut told me "YES" and I really felt the desire to go.

The experience is one I will never forget, and I respect everyone who has every paddled this river and especially those who paddle it on a regular basis, and most the people who race down it year after year. It is most definitely a special place in the world of whitewater paddling.

The morning prior to the run the nerves run deep as you make the drive to the river. Reality really did not set in for me until we have run most of the section above Gorrilla and I was anticipating the seal launch below looking at what was to come. Everything was great, I had good lines on all. We each ran the right of Go Left. I went for the right eddy above the last drop of Zwick's and found myself going too fast to stop, which left me in circumstances of a botched attempt for a forward run, so I committed to a set up for a straight on backwards boof. I took the stroke and landed it backwards and upright into the eddy in the top left corner above the rock before the runout. This was as good as you can get with a botched line and boy was I grateful, knowing what was just downstream.

The seal launch, and slides, down to the portage around Sunshine is quite a desent of vertical feet that isn't given much credit until you're sitting in a boat going down it. Nate deserves the respect for his ability to react appropriately and pull off his first descent of Sunshine successfully not on purpose. This gave us all a scare.

From a boaters perspective the river is very steep with each drop's reality of being some of the biggest drops I have ever run in my career of boating. The funny thing was after Sunshine the nerves kind of faded as we paddled out through some rapids that would rank as definite challenges, but we welcomed them as if they were just boogie water, and they are in comparison to the above rapids.

Congrats to Cathy and a good crew. Cathy you have great ability and are a pleasure to paddle with.
Attachments
First Run on the Green 006.jpg
Here is what euphoria looks like: Cathy in the eddy above Sunshine.
Way to go Cathy! You styled the Green!
First Run on the Green 006.jpg (180.09 KiB) Viewed 1827 times

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RandyJ
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by RandyJ » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:08 pm

And speaking of the weekend race at the Green, did anyone see these pix? Nice save!
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dinan
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by dinan » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:44 pm

Very Nice way to go Cathy.

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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by bmartin » Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:17 am

Congrats Kaylan....I'm not at all surprised by your poise on new water.

Great trip report Druse and Cathy. I actually had butterflies just reading it!!! Please post more pics if you have any and congrats to you both and the rest of your crew.

-Brad

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Drew J.
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Drew J. » Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:49 pm

Great work Cathy! You going to come run the gnar in Colorado next season? It's snowing now...hopefully we'll have another great season.

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Michele Jackson
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Re: Going Green! Narrows TR

Post by Michele Jackson » Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:51 am

Nice stories and great accomplishments! Way to go! And Kaylan - I'm SO impressed!!

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